The idea for brand positioning came from a young unknown advertising guy named Al Ries who had his own little agency Ries, Cappiello, Colwell in New York City back in the Mad Men era of the 1960s.

Al’s original idea was called “rock.” Every brand needed a solid rock to differentiate itself from all the other brands in the category. But not any rock. The “rock” had to be a word or concept that prospects would instantly accept, like The leading toothpaste. Al discussed the idea with the guys at the agency. One of his account executives, Jack Trout, suggested calling the rock a “position” instead. Al agreed. Al’s rock idea became positioning, and it would change the world of marketing.

But not right away. The idea never went anywhere until 1972, when Al’s speech on positioning at the Sales Executives Club of New York got the attention of Rance Crain, editor of Advertising Age, Rance suggested the topic of positioning would make a good series of articles for his magazine. Al, of course, agreed. The legendary three-part series of articles on positioning by Al Ries & Jack Trout was printed in April and May 1972 – The Positioning Era Cometh.

Positioning has many different names; Brand Values, Brand Purpose, Value Proposition, Brand DNA, Core Attributes, Brand Promise, Brand Personality, Brands Essence, Magic Stardust, etc. We call it as it’s named in business school; Positioning.

Positioning is ONLY one part of the process as you will see below, but it is the bit of your brand that needs considerable thought. These words / key sentence is the part you want your prospects to recall about your goods/service when stopped in the street.